Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-10-14
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE,
Something About Kansas City
The Home Of the Western Boom.

L
lfter two days of tiresome travel.
rhe Incoming trains were all heavily
oaded and we're several hours behind
time on most of the roads. Coming
by the Kansas City, Fort Scott aud
Gulf Route, l was more fortunate
than passengers on other roads and
arrived only few minutes late, and
almost as early as some Hopkinsville
gentlemen who came by the nearer
and more direct route, by way of st.
Louis. / was not favorably i'm
pressed with Kansas City at first.
The union depot, magnificent build
ing by-the-way, is located at the foot
of an immense bluff, probably 100 or
$50 feet high. The short street from
the depot to this bluff is taken up
with the depot on one side and lined
on the other with hotels, eating
houses, pawn-broker shops, fruit
stands and ticket scalpers' offices.
The street which ends so abruptly
stops at a winding stairway up which
you are borne by the struggling hnr-
rying tide of humanity. Half way
to the top you are met by the cable
cars which you board and are carried
whizzing up the incline to the top, at
rate that makes the wind whistle
about your ears like December gale.
Once up the hill you are in the city
proper and can take your choice be-
tween walking up one hill and down
another, or riding in almost any d.
rection for four or five miles over the
40 miles of street railway. This en-
tire system is operated by cables UNI
der the streets and as the cars are
seen rushing along up hills and down
grades drawn by an invisible force
whose propelling power is in an en-
CINE room miles away, they can but
make us think of the possibilities OF
science and human ingenuity in this
age of progress in which we-livs.
Some of these cars go over lines five
miles long, turn corners, run fast or
slow, stop or start at the will of the
brakeman with more ease and
promptness than if drawn by animals
or engines. By walking aud riding
over the city, 1 have managed to
see about all that would interest q
stranger and l have had my first i'm
pressions removed and am now ready
to conclude that the place isa city
that its Inhabitants may justly feel
proud of. 1t Is not n pretty place,
for it 10 built on hills, in hollows and
sink-holes and under great bluffs OF
over-hanging crags, but 1t is city
that is not yet half grown. 1t is not
we'll improved, for many Of its streets
are muddy lanes and many of it'
pavements are made of planks. EV-
erything seems to have been put to
together in great hurry as if the
principal idea was to build a great
city quick and put on the finishing
touches afterwards. 1t is not well
laid out, for its streets run here, there
or anywhere without any regularity
or system, but the property fronting
on these irregular, unpaved streets is
worth thousands of dollars per foot.
1t is not a compactly built city, for on
every street you see vacant lots with
board up saying they are for sale at
great bargains. But if you want to
learn the Kansas City idea of a great
bargain just try to buy one of these
lots. 1t may be sink hole thirty
feet lower than the street or it may
be hillside equally as high above it,
but its owner will look you in the
eye and tell you that you can have
it if you will build on it at once fol
only $1,000 a foot, but it is not fol
sale for speculative purposes. / wa,
shown one lot with two-story build
ing on it that was taken in under 8
foreclosure for $1,000 six years ago
by a widow, who last week refused
to sell it for $4,000. Another cor.
ner with two small dwellings on it,
which has been surrounded by bust.
ness houses, was not for sale at $440,-
900, offered for it few days ago
These instances show at what fabu.
lous prices property is now valued
here. But with all of the drawbacks
and objections mentioned above, yor
cannot stay here twenty-four hour
without being forced to believe in thu
future greatness of the place. Thert
is always a crowd on the streets anG
the business of the town 10 growing
at a tremendous rate, In spite oftht
fact that many of the best lots ar,
held by spectators at prices thai
have practically put them off thu
market, there are buildings going W
everywhere. Some OF them are eight
and ten stories high and are as fine
as any buildings to be found IN the
West. After while, when the bot.
tom drops out of her artificial boom
and property returns to valuation
fixed upon 4 substantial basis, Kan
sas City will fill up her vacant lot
with houses and increase her pre-en
population until it may require sevel
figures TO record the aggregate mum
Der Of her inhabitants. These oh
servauons may give the reader SOM
idea Of the city which is at pressn
the headquarters of the Western
boom. II 10 located on the lin
between Missouri and Kansa,
being mostly in Missouri, all,
is not only great railroad center
but has such additional transporta
ton facilities AZ the Missouri rive
affords. The population il al presell